Making kapsay (cookies kind of, fried dough kind of) for Losar


Justin, Emily, and Rachel making kapsay


Losar eve eve or something like that…Julia’s fortune said she was restless


Marissa and Steve


First meal of Losar (the yummy rice and not so yummy porridge): Amalia, Marissa, Elise, Lucy, Eva, and Diana


Our audience with Dema Lochu Rinpoche


Ani-la translated for us


Butter sculptures


Ani-la, Marissa, Dan, and Justin hanging prayer flags


Geshe-la, Lhakpa-la (our Tibetan teacher), someone I don’t know, and Dordum hanging prayer flags


Dan, Dordum, and Justin hanging prayer flags


Newly hung prayer flags


The puppies…that’s Hide ‘n Seek in the front, and Nutella right behind him. The others we named Big Mac, Happy Meal, and Turtle. We named Turtle first cause he was awkward, and then we named the others after food (Hide ‘n Seek is a kind of cookie here, and the rest are probably pretty self explanatory)


Hide ‘n Seek biting Will


Amber, Ani-la, Tom, Taylor, Will D., Justin at a Losar meal


Tom, Taylor, Will D, Justin, Eva, and Marissa


Amalia and her roommate, whom I used to eat lunch with


The view from our rooms at the Om hotel where we’re staying now


Our rooms


Purim costume party in the library


Pretty view from the hike today


Monkey


View of McLeod


Mountains


The group walking


Pretty tree


Prayer flags

So the public teachings ended a few days ago. Every year the Dalai Lama gives a series of public teachings and anyone can attend. We had to get identification badges, but that just requires a few passport photos, a passport to prove who you are, and five rupees. Every day for about a week and a half, His Holiness would teach in the morning (9:30-11:30) and the afternoon (1:00-3:30). This year he taught on two different texts: Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva and The Essence of Refined Gold by the Third Dalai Lama. He taught in Tibetan, but since so many foreigners come to hear also, they have translators. Everyone brings little radios and headphones, and there are different frequencies for different languages. It’s a lot of sitting still (or fidgeting if you’re me) and legs falling asleep and all that, but it’s really amazing. People have all sorts of reasons for coming, and some really are kind of strange, but on the whole there is really an interesting crowd. Also, the amount of devotion and faith present is kind of overwhelming. It’s also really like this big community. Every morning they hand out rolls of bread and in both the morning and afternoon, they walk around and offer tea to anyone who wants any; you just have to bring something to hold the tea. The tea in the morning is butter tea, which is really kind of an acquired taste. Some people like it, but to me, it seems like drinking melted butter. I really like the tea in the afternoon since it’s sweet tea. I missed a few days of the teachings because I was sick (admittedly I probably could have gone either day, but I threw up one night and my stomach hurt the next day and I kind of just wanted to stay in bed (a decision I kind of regret now that the teachings are over)), but I did listen on the radio both days. The only day I didn’t get to listen on the radio was the day I went to the hospital with one of my friends. Three people in our group so far have amoebic dysentery. I’ve been to the hospital three times with three different people so far. Don’t worry…no one’s like dying or anything. It’s more just like to go see a doctor and have things tested. It seems like almost everyone in our group has gotten pretty sick at one point or another so far. I’m just waiting for something to hit me, and to be honest I still can’t quite figure out how I’ve managed to dodge getting these amoebas. My standards of what can be talked about in polite conversation have kind of changed here, and I keep having to remind myself that no one who reads this wants to hear about well, considering that I just talked about people having dysentery, you can imagine. Aside from the various stomach illnesses people seem to have, things are going pretty well. The sun is finally out, and I feel like I’m finally warming up and drying. The last day of the teachings it was pouring rain and it even hailed a bit. I was lucky to have found a seat in the covered area, and it was so crowded that I wasn’t cold at all, and I didn’t even notice that the bottom third of my skirt was wet until I had to move to get on my knees for the Bodhisattva vow, but even in the uncovered areas, it didn’t dampen the mood. People were still crowded in under umbrellas. It was really intense.
The teachings ended after the morning session three days ago. In the afternoon we went to see an Oracle who wasn’t there, but I guess we’re going to try again next week. The day after the teachings ended was pretty much a day off except for language class, but language class is kind of fun, so it was nice. Yesterday we started having regular class again. We had culture class yesterday which was actually interesting (I mean the class is interesting usually, it’s just that recently we had been doing a lot of like history and politics, and neither of those areas are really my thing, so it just didn’t interest me as much, but today we talked about compassion and violence and non-violence and killing out of compassion and stuff like that, and I thought it was really interesting). Also, I was a little late to class because there were no taxis at the hospital (I was there with another friend who also apparently has these amoebas), but I brought back some freshly baked bread from the bakery next to the hospital so I think it was okay (although Amber wasn’t too happy that I just sort of passed it around and everyone touched it and unsanitary and all that, but it’s true that I’m a total enabler (ie I bring back pizza for people who are sick to their stomachs if that’s what they say they want for lunch)).
Today we had philosophy class in the morning, and in the afternoon we went up to Steve and Karen’s place in Dharamkot for discussion. We usually have the weekly discussion in the library, but they invited us up there and it was quite nice. After the discussion we hiked around for a while. The views were amazing. I wish I could just bring you all here to show you. I tried to take some pictures, but even if I were a good photographer, which I’m not, I still don’t think I could have done it justice. For dinner, we went to a pizza restaurant in Dharamkot, which was amazingly good, and I’m starting to think that during the independent research period, I might want to stay there (in Dharamkot not at the restaurant). I’ll have to look into it, but it seems really nice, because it’s like a 20 minute walk from Mcleod, but it’s so much more quiet and peaceful. I’ve got a bunch of pictures to post too, so I’ll see if I can do that as well.

(sorry for all the long posts and pictures at once, but internet is more limited here. I hope you like the pictures)

Tashi Delek Losar! (Happy new years)
Last weekend was Losar, which is the Tibetan new year. It’s like new years in the US, but possibly crazier. Losar itself last three days (officially anyway, sometimes it can just keep going I’m told), but festivities start a few days before. The rules are pretty strict on the campus here (no drinking, no boys in the girls’ dorm and vice versa, no dancing unless it’s tradition dance, you get the idea), but all rules are overlooked during Losar. It was so strange to see the change on the campus. It became much more like the kind of college campus that I’m used to.
On friday night, we started by having a special kind of thukpa (I don’t think that’s close to being spelled correctly), which is a Tibetan noodle soup. This kind was special though, because it has a specific set of ingredients, and in the dumplings there are folded up pieces of paper that have things written on them. They’re kind of just like silly fortunes. They range from very lucky ones to ones that say charcoal (that one means about the same as getting charcoal at Christmas). Mine said Tashi Delek, which is supposed to be auspicious. They then set off some fireworks and the fun for the weekend began.
On saturday, we hung around campus for the day.
On sunday, Losar itself began. We all got up early in the morning to put on our new chubas (a rather difficult task, but fortunately Pelkhi, Marissa’s roommate, helped Julia and me because both of our roommate were gone for the holiday). We then went to prayers in the temple. After prayers, some of the students here did a tradition dance, which was really cool, then we had breakfast, which consisted of rice (yummy) and a special Losar porridge (not so yummy), made with chung, Tibetan beer. As you can see, they take the three days a year where drinking is not only allowed but encouraged very seriously.
For the rest of the day, people went around campus and visited other people’s rooms. I visited for a bit, but I hadn’t finished an assignment that was due the next day, so I spent a lot of the day doing that. I did take a break for a little bit to go to a bonfire that they were setting up though. While I was there, one of my slightly drunk teachers invited Karen, Amber, Ani-la, Marissa, and me to learn how to do some of the Tibetan dances that they do around the bonfire. So we went to a room with some of the students here, and they tried to teach us some of the steps. I don’t think we managed to really learn anything more than one basic step, but it was really fun anyway.
The next day was more fun, because I didn’t have schoolwork to worry about. In the morning, the group went up to McLeod Gang to have an audience with a Rinpoche (correction on what I said about rinpoches in the last post: rinpoches can’t always control their own rebirth, but they are recognized as rebirths of Dharma teachers or scholars from previous lives). He was very friendly, and the things he said were really interesting. One thing that I remember him saying was in response to a question about what he found difficult about following the Dharma. He said that two difficult things are understanding emptiness and practicing the idea of others before self, but he said that one way to make that easier is to always remember how kind other people have been to you, which I thought was just a really cool thing to say, and something that hopefully I can remember. We came back after that and had the rest of the day free. That night I was finally able to go out with everyone else. We went to a dance party in one of the boy’s rooms, which was fun but strange too. For the rest of the time that we’d been here, the boys have all been shy for the most part and quite respectful, but at the party, the boys who were there were acting like stereotypical college boys at a college party, which isn’t actually strange, it was just different after getting used to how it had been before. I know some of the students on the program were unhappy with these changes, but (and this might just be because I didn’t have any really bad experiences) I thought it was kind of nice to be able to see the students here as just like the students I know at home, and I was able to meet a lot of people I hadn’t met before. Also, I danced with a Tibetan pop singer (you know you’re jealous).
Tuesday was the last official day of Losar. We got up early again for morning prayers (I think it may have been a puja, but I’m not really sure). That day a lot of the students went on a trip to Tilopa’s cave and to see a performance given in honor of the Karmapa. I just stayed around campus to relax though. I helped put up some prayer flags which was fun.
The rest of the week was pretty much just class as normal, and now it’s the weekend (yay), and I should be working on my paper, but clearly I’m writing this instead. Also, I’m still working on getting pictures put up. Monday we move up to McLeod Gang, where we’ll be staying for the next two months. Also, His Holiness’s public teachings start soon (eep), which is actually why we’re moving, because they’re in McLeod, and we’re going to go see them.
Also, this week’s project (since we have to finish this before we move) has been to try to treat the mange on the dogs around campus. We bought some mange spray, which the puppies didn’t enjoy (we’ve only managed to treat the puppies, we can’t actually get close enough to the dogs). Then we tried lotion, which I think may work better, but it’s still kind of gross, because it requires rubbing lotion all over scab-covered puppies, but it doesn’t freak them out as much, so hopefully this works, since we only have a few more days here.

It’s been a while since Losar, but I still haven’t had a chance to post what I wrote about it, so I guess I’ll just keep going with this post. On monday, we moved up to McLeod Ganj/ Upper Dharamsala (I’m not quite sure why it has two names, but I always switch back and forth in what I call it, so just know that they’re the same thing). I think we’re still sort of settling in, but I think it’ll be nice to be here. It was really sad leaving Sarah though. I regret not making more of an effort to connect with my roommate, but she comes up to Dharamsala on the weekends, so I’m hoping that maybe I’ll see here again, and we’re all planning on going back to Sarah to visit anyway. She was an amazing roommate, and I feel bad that she had to put up with me. Also, it was really sad to leave Ani-la (the nun who I ate lunch with). I think I’m pretty lucky that I had the opportunity to sit at that table at lunch. After lunch on the last day, she invited me to hang out in her room, and she gave me a candy bar and I gave her a California keychain that I had bought at the airport. I’ve exchanged email addresses with both my roommate and Ani-la, so hopefully I can keep in touch at least a little. Also, I think some of the Sarah students are coming up to Dharamsala for the public teachings anyway, so that’s cool. Speaking of the public teachings…they start so soon. It’s really exciting. Today we went to register. Yesterday and earlier today it was pouring. This morning we all set out to go the Dalai Lama’s department of security or something like that. Just up the hill from the Om (the hotel we’re staying at), I realized that while I had my passport number, I hadn’t actually remembered my passport, so I ran back to the hotel, hoping that I would be able to catch up with everyone. A good plan right? It would have working out well, except there’s a fork in the road, and for some reason I thought everyone had gone one way when they really all went the other. So when I came back with my passport I went on the uphill path, which by that point in the morning since it had rained and hailed all night, was actually more like a small stream (okay, I’m exaggerating a little, but it did take my shoes only about ten seconds to be soaked all the way through). I ran up the hill and asked anyone I passed if they had seen a group of American students. When it finally became clear to me that no one actually had, I started asking if anyone knew where to register for the public teachings. I must have been a pretty pathetic sight indeed, since by that point my shoes and skirt were all soaked through, my jacket was pretty wet too, my Tibetan is limited to the alphabet and some simple phrases, and my Hindi is limited just to hello and thank you, but eventually a very kind man overheard me asking a taxi driver if he knew where to register, and he came out in the rain to point me in the right direction. It always makes me so happy when someone goes out of his or her way to help me when I’m feeling especially pathetic and unhappy. Anyway, he pointed me in the right direction, and with more help from more kind strangers, I finally made it to where I needed to be, and now I have a super cool pass that will get me into the teachings (I’m excited, have I mentioned that yet?).
The rain has been letting up now though, and it had actually stopped raining by the time the sun set. It really cleared out the air though, and from the Om, we could see the most amazing view. I didn’t take any pictures, but I know other people did, so I’ll attempt to steal some of those to show you just how amazing this view is, and this isn’t just the view from the roof or something. It’s the view from our windows (all our rooms face outward, so the view out the windows or the doors is of the Kangra valley (I think), and it’s just amazing).
Also, one other wonderful thing for the day…I just got back from dinner, and I had dinner and Nick’s, which serves a lot of western food, and for dessert, we had a brownie that was maybe the yummiest thing I’ve ever eaten. Actually, I’ve really liked the food here, especially now that we’re in Upper Dharamsala. I really liked most of the food at Sarah, but here we’re just given meal stipends, so there are a lot of options. We’ve been just eating at the Om a lot because of the rain, but since it let up tonight, we went out. I guess that’s all for now, since I should be actually doing work or something, and I’ve already bored you with tales of my yummy dinner. I really am working on posting pictures though. I managed to upload about half the ones I wanted to post before we left Sarah, but now that we’re here, I can’t just plug my own computer into the internet, so I’ll have to borrow someone’s jump drive to get the rest of the pictures, but the connection is faster here, so I think that’ll work.

Here are some older pictures. It's taken me a while to get them all online, but here they are...


As promised, pictures of me washing my clothes. I seem to be in the process of washing my socks. Also that’s Will behind me


My clothes drying


My friends the explorers. That’s Will, Julia, and Lucy. We went for a walk one afternoon and just kind of wandered around.


This picture is from the same walk. This man was walking his goats, and when we walked past, one of them came up to Julia and nuzzled her leg. It was maybe the cutest thing ever


Will playing with a cow (I think this picture is from when we were walking up to Lower Dharamsala)


This is from the lake and bird preserve, the name of which I have forgotten. He’s bailing water out of our boat. I admit it made me a little nervous


Some of the other boats


Passing food between the boats. In the boat I’m in you can sort of see Palkyi on the left. She’s Marissa’s roommate, and she’s teaching Julia and me how to play the dranyen (I don’t know how to spell that). On the right is Jampa, Julia’s roommate. In the other boat, there’s Eva in blue.


Marissa and Julia riding a bike with Sherab Dawa and Taylor chasing behind


Will and me on one of the bikes. This picture is deceptive in that it kind of looks like I could actually make the bike move. I didn’t have the leg strength or length to actually peddle the bike. We spent most of the time falling over


Pictures from the party. Here’s one of the groups playing human knot. On the far left in the green jacket is Taylor. In the middle in the green skirt is Kendell. On the right are Will and Taylor’s roommates.


The girls getting dressed up in chubas.


The gate to a Mahadevi temple that we visited on the way to Bir. From left to right, that’s Hanuman, Krishna, and Siva


On the left is Kali standing on Siva (I think), and on the right is Ganesha


At the temple, this monkey came right up and stole this bag out of Dan’s hand, and then proceeded to eat the contents.


Kali and Durga


This river ran through the middle of the temple area. While we were there, they were setting up for a funeral (two separate funerals actually). This picture is from before the funeral had come, but later it was taking place here.


This is the front of the Sherabling temple at Bir. Sherabling is a Kagyu temple (there are four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug). While in Bir, we actually saw a Nyingma temple, a Sakya temple, and a Kagya temple. Also, while we were in Bir, we stayed at the Sherabling guesthouse


We went to see Ani Tenzin Palmo while we were in Bir. She’s starting a nunnery there, and they took us on a tour of it. Some of the boys found a shortcut back by climbing this wall. Up at the top is Geshe-la (not the same Geshe-la as one of the other earlier pictures. Geshe-la is an honorific title. A geshe degree is a degree a monk can receive; it’s kind of like a Ph.D.), and you can also see Taylor and Tom.


This is Ani Tenzin Palmo. Also, that’s Justin’s back and Amber is the one filming.


Prayer flags at Tashi Jong, another monastery that we visited. It was really windy while we were there.


A stupa at Tashi Jong. It’s actually really cool, because you can see a tree growing out of the top of it. After they put someone important’s (I don’t remember who) ashes inside, the tree started growing. They kept trying to cut it back, but it kept growing, so now there it is. I think I may have overheard someone saying that that’s the kind of tree that the historical Buddha was enlightened under, but I’m not sure if I heard that correctly.


Monks on motorcycles (enough said)


This is Bubu, a dog from Sherabling that followed us all the way to Bir (it was like an hour walk). Some of the students later brought her in the car with us to bring her back to Sherabling.

So it’s been a while since I’ve had internet access. The party I said that we were planning went pretty well I think. During the party, it seemed like people were having fun, and afterward people told us they thought it went well. It didn’t go quite as planned, but it still seemed fun. We split into four groups and played different games. The two games that my group played were human knot and capture the flag. We had it planned that each group would play four games but we ran out of time. Human knot was kind of a short game, so afterwards we played a name game and some of the students showed Rachel and me a few Tibetan dance steps, which was really fun. Capture the flag went well too. After that all the groups got back together. There was a competition in which all the girls in our group (minus Amalia and I, because Amalia was already wearing a chuba, and neither my roommate nor I wanted to actually have to get up in front of everyone) were dressed up in chubas (traditional Tibetan dresses) by their roommates. After this there was a talent show, which actually only consisted of Amalia playing a Tibetan song on mandolin, Julia and I singing ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ Eva and Diana singing the song from Titanic (which for some reason is still popular here), Taylor playing ‘Redemption Song’ on mandolin, and Julia, Justin, and Will playing air guitar (Justin actually played air drums I guess) to ‘Take Me Out.’ It went well, and I’m really proud of myself for actually singing in front of people. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I really do have pretty bad stage fright, and actually before the song I got so nervous that I ran off the stage and only came back because I felt really bad about leaving Julia alone up there. After the talent show we played a game where everyone has a balloon tied to his or her ankle and the point is to pop other people’s balloons without having your own popped. I’m pretty sure that I was like the first person out, mostly because someone was talking to me about what game would be next when the game started, so I wasn’t actually paying attention, but I probably would have gotten out pretty quickly anyway, because a lot of people were taking the game really seriously. After that we played a game called fruit salad, which was silly and amusing because it involved people trying to make themselves look like various pieces of fruit. Anyway, it was quite amusing to watch. But it really did seem like the party went well, and now I feel like I know more of the students here, and some of them even stop to talk to me sometimes now so yay.
Earlier that day, we went to a lake and a bird preserve (I forgot the name though). We went out on boats first, and then we had lunch by the lake. After lunch we took turns riding bikes that were there. It was really fun, and I took a lot of pictures there.
Last weekend (I guess the party was the weekend before last), our group went on a trip to Bir. On the way we stopped at Mahadevi Temple. It was pretty cool to see some of the things I learned about in Love and Religion last semester. Also, while we were there, there were two funerals going on. We were leaving right as they were starting, but we did see them preparing and starting the fires for the funeral pyres. I’m told it’s auspicious to see a funeral, so I guess two is double the auspiciousness. As with all sorts of other things here, death is much more out in the open than it is at home. It seems like in the US death is kept in hospitals out of the way, and funerals are kept out of the way in funeral homes too, and bodies are preserved to look weirdly life-like. Here it’s not so sanitized. A lot of things feel that way here, just sort of less tidy and more out in the open.
We stayed at the guesthouse of the Sherabling monastery, which had hot showers (I think that alone may have made the trip worth it). We went to see Ani Tenzin Palmo. She’s a nun, who came from England originally, and she spent twelve years in retreat meditating in a cave in the mountains. She’s written a book, and I know there’s been a book written about her too, so she’s pretty well-known, and we were really lucky to be able to talk to her. She’s very direct in everything she says, and she says a lot of things that are pretty controversial. She’s also totally a feminist which is really cool. She’s starting a nunnery now, and when one of the students asked her about the idea that being born a woman is a result of lower karma, she said that she flat out disagreed. She said that maybe at one point in time it was, but now there are opportunities open to woman than there were before. She even said that she thought maybe it was better to be a woman because there are fewer distractions in the monastic life (interpret as you will). Amber recorded the whole interview and said that we can all see her tapes, so I’ll try to pick out the quotes that I really liked if I get a chance.
Then we went to Tashi Jong, a monastery nearby. While we were there, we were able to go into a room where the preserved body of an old yogi is preserved in salt. Some of the group meditated there, and I know a lot people said it was a good experience (I was as usual at the back of the group, so I didn’t really know what was going on until after but anyway). We also saw where they make incense.
The next day we walked to the Bir settlement. Along the way we walked through the Suja School, which is one of the TCV schools, and it’s the school that my roommate went to before she came here. That day we saw a Nyingma temple and later a Sakya temple too. Also, we had an audience with a Rinpoche who also happens to be a movie director. He directed the movie ‘The Cup,’ which now I think I need watch. When someone asked if it was true that he wanted to be reincarnated as a rockstar in his next life (rinpoches are Dharma teachers who can control their rebirths, I think), he said that now he actually wants to be reincarnated as the president of the US. He even specified that he wants to be a Republican president, because he said that he thinks that Republican presidents are dangerous. He also made some interesting metaphors about the Dharma that I wish I could remember now.
The day after that we spent at Sherabling. They were doing a puja (a purification ritual) before Losar (Tibetan new year, which is this weekend and seems like it’ll be lots of fun), and we got to sit in the back of the temple for that. It was the way one imagines Tibetan chanting. There was some sort of horn type instrument, huge drums, and of course the low pitch chanting of the monks. They took us to see some of the other rooms around the temple. It was really cool, but it had gotten really cold the day before, and it rained all day, so I was quite happy to just get back to the guesthouse, put on dry clothes, and read.
On the way back from Bir, we stopped at a Siva temple also, and now here we are back in the swing of things with classes and all.
On one more cool thing…Palkyi, one of the students here, is teaching Julia, (maybe) Lucy, and me to play the dranyen, which I’m sure I’ve spelled wrong. It’s a Tibetan instrument, which is played kind of like a guitar. We had our first lesson with her yesterday.
I noticed how much my expectations have changed but also ways they haven’t. Yesterday I was in a good mood mentally and emotionally, but it was so cold and I really wanted to shower and I could feel my physical mood bringing the rest of me down. But I did manage to shower today, so I feel much better. When it’s cold and cloudy out, there isn’t really any hot water (yesterday there wasn’t any at all). Today the rain let up and the sun came out for a little, and I managed to get a kind of lukewarm shower. I was willing to be half an hour late to class for it too, because it started raining again, and I was afraid that by the time I got out of class the hot water would be totally gone. I was just so desperate to shower though, so it felt totally worth it, and now I feel much cleaner. So that’s where I am now, and I suppose I should stop writing this entry, since I won’t be able to post it until tomorrow at the earliest, and I do have other work I should be doing. I also have another batch of pictures that I plan to post too, so hopefully I’ll be able to get on the internet soon.

We’re finished with our first two weeks of class now. It’s strange to think both that I’ve only been here that long and also that I have been here that long. Weekdays are starting to feel pretty routine now, but weekends are still different. This morning I went to morning prayers as usual. Then I went for a walk down across the stream that runs next to the campus. I saw a girl walking three goats, which amused me because at first I thought they were dogs. After breakfast we talked about the party tomorrow. So about the party tomorrow…some of us in the group wanted to have some sort of get together for our group and the students here, because we (well I feel this way anyway) felt like we weren’t really meeting that many students here. I talk to my roommate some, and I sit with students here at lunch, but aside from that I don’t think I really interact with many of the students here, which I think is really sad, because I didn’t come to India to just hang out with the American students. I know I could just try harder, but I’m afraid of committing all sort of faux pas or something. So anyway, we’re having a party, but it’s going to be totally different than any college party at home. Dancing isn’t allowed on campus, so we’re going to play games. They’re mostly the kind of games I think of as playing at orientation or maybe camp. I hope it’s fun though. If all else fails, at least there will be tea and biscuits.
After we talked about the party, I went to talk to my roommate, because one of our assignments is to write a life history about our roommates. She’s pretty amazing. I can’t imagine being away from my whole family for as long as she’s been, but she came here to get an education, because she couldn’t get one back in Tibet.
In the afternoon, I walked up to lower Dharamsala with Will. It took us about three hours, it was uphill, and we got slightly lost a few times, but we made it, and it was actually kind of fun. All in all, I’d say it was worth it. There were some pretty nice views along the way, we both bought what we needed, and Will got to play with a cow along the way. We didn’t walk back though (we wouldn’t have been back in time for dinner if we had). We made it back in time for dinner, and now here I am in the computer lab.